Daily Answer Writing: Sociology (Day 26)

Questions

1. Analyze the key principle of the 'Tribal Panchsheel,' which is centred around promoting inclusion and reducing intrusion. (20 Marks)
2. Discuss. Classes in agrarian society in India. (10 Marks)

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Model Structures

Q1. Analyze the key principle of the 'Tribal Panchsheel,' which is centred around promoting inclusion and reducing intrusion. (20 Marks)

Introduction

• The term "Tribal Panchsheel" refers to the five guiding principles for tribal development, emphasizing more inclusion and less intrusion in the governance and development processes for tribal communities.

Main Body

• The concept of Tribal Panchsheel emerged as a response to the historical marginalization and exploitation of tribal communities in India.
• It seeks to uphold the rights, culture, and autonomy of tribal populations while promoting their socio-economic development.

Core Principles of Tribal Panchsheel:

• Inclusion:
  • Participation and Representation: The principle of inclusion advocates for the active participation and representation of tribal communities in decision-making processes that affect their lives. It calls for involving tribal members in planning, implementing, and evaluating development projects and policies.
  • Empowerment: Inclusion involves empowering tribal communities with the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources to take ownership of their development initiatives and exercise agency over their affairs.
  • Rights-Based Approach: The Tribal Panchsheel emphasizes the protection of tribal rights, including land rights, forest rights, and cultural rights. It upholds the notion that development should not infringe upon the rights and interests of tribal communities.
• Less Intrusion:
  • Non-Interference: The principle of less intrusion advocates for limiting external interference in tribal communities' social, cultural, and economic systems. It emphasizes the need to respect and preserve tribal customs, traditions, and self- governance mechanisms.
• Sustainable Development: Less intrusion promotes sustainable development approaches that do not disrupt the delicate balance between tribal communities and their environment. It discourages exploitative practices and the imposition of external development models.
• Cultural Preservation: Less intrusion seeks to protect and preserve tribal cultures, languages, and knowledge systems from external influences that may erode their unique identity and way of life.
• The Tribal Panchsheel aligns with the principles of social justice, inclusivity, and human rights, aiming to uplift tribal communities without compromising their autonomy and dignity.
• It acknowledges the historical injustices and discrimination faced by tribes and seeks to rectify them through more inclusive and respectful development strategies.

Conclusion

• By respecting their rights, culture, and autonomy, the Tribal Panchsheel seeks to address historical injustices and create a more equitable and sustainable path for tribal development in contemporary India.

Q2. Discuss. Classes in agrarian society in India. (10 Marks)

Introduction

• In British-India, little surplus was available thus stratification in terms of class was non- existent.
• Post- Independence, we can say that rural India has structured itself into four classes and that is what becomes a part of the system.

Main Body

• If we look at the agricultural field then it has three classes within itself- landowners, tenants and the laborers; while the fourth class being of the non- agriculturalists. The data of the distribution of these classes is as follows: landowners- 22%, tenants- 27%, agricultural laborers- 31% and non-agriculturalists only 20%.
• Because of the most population depending and sustaining their lives on agriculture, India is known as an agrarian country.
• The marketing process is all in the hands of the intermediaries who are a link between the producers, cultivators, and sellers and regulate the trade. The village people live a miserable economic life which includes the agrarian proletarians, uneconomic holders of land in large numbers, few artisans and self- employed people. The agrarian structure establishes certain relations which can be classified as:
  • Defined and enforced by law -
    • Which are customary
    • Which can fluctuate
• Daniel Thorner gives a three fold classification in his ‘The Agrarian Prospects of India, 1956’ as – Malik, Kisan and Mazdoor on the basis of right over land. He also maintains that these three classes also reflect social structure too as most of Maliks belong to upper castes and Mazdoors from lower castes and Kisan belong to Artisan class. Maliks are those whose income is derived primarily from property rights in the soil and whose common interest is to keep the level of rents up while keeping the wage-level down. They collect rent from tenants, sub-tenants and sharecroppers. Kisans are working peasants, who own small plots of land and work mostly with their own labor and that of their family members. They own much lesser lands than the Maliks. Mazdoors don’t own any land. Development of capitalist relations in the agrarian sector of the economy has also changed the older class structure. For example, in most regions of India, the Maliks have turned into enterprising farmers. Similarly, most of the tenants and sharecroppers among the landless mazdoors have begun to work as wage laborers.
• D.N. Dhanagre Classification: He says there are five classes: landlords, tenants, subtenants, sharecroppers; rich peasants or small landowners who have sufficient land to support their family, rich tenants have substantial holdings and give rent to landlords; middle peasants with medium size holdings; and poor peasants which include landowners whose holdings are insufficient to support their family and are thus forced to rent someone else’s land. The poor peasants and labourers are always exploited by rich landowners which makes their relationship unhealthy. The rich are the ones who have all the social, economic and political power which keeps them in a safe zone even if someone speaks to them.
• However certain societies set up in villages for public welfare try to curb the situation yet the Maliks emerge strong. These cooperative public societies have been unsuccessful whereas the private traders are benefitting.

Conclusion

• It is important to somehow control the power of the landowners to reduce exploitation, otherwise there won’t be collective progress amongst the classes in our country and class relations will continue to get disintegrated.

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